Heroes of Bloodfall
Written by Tarick Hefford the Scarred. ---- The township of Bloodfall was founded roughly one century before Frostkeep by Ranthor Nighthawk, since then it has had a tradition of being a village of stout warriors and hardy sailors. Below I have penned their major heroes. The first is of course, Ranthor Nighthawk who slew the bugbear prophet Gnab'thok the Manslayer at what appears to be the holy caverns of the bugbear god Hruggek with his legendary spear. At the time, the tribes of the north were nomads who wandered from the Blood Falls up to the Shade Woods, this was partly due to the menace of the goblinoid races that they shared the land with. Eventually he united the tribes to fight their chief nemesis, the bugbears. After a gruelling war the Gnab'thok was slain and his bugbears were defeated. To honour the victory, Ranthor founded the settlement of Bloodfall to make sure no human would ever bend their knees to the beasts again. One should also note that many of the bugbears (and their goblin followers) were captured and became the northmen's slaves. His rule was a long but unfortunately barren, Ranthor according to the men of Bloodfall, ruled for one hundred years before passing away. Leaving no heirs. I myself doubt this, it is my guess that Ranthor and his heirs ruled for a century before the bloodline diminished. Rule passed to Agmarond Axehand, the child of Ranthor's sister. Agmarond stands out among the Bloodfall chieftains as being a much wiser and more diplomatic leader. He established trade with the thriving colony of Frostkeep and built a great fleet of longships for Bloodfall. Earning the title "The Waverider" According to oral tradition, he sailed the great Sea of Winter, and defeated (but not killed) the Sea Serpent. He also sailed as far as a city wtih "Aurim Walls" and the land where the sun sets. There would be the Golden City and Yequi respectively. Beside the Waverider himself, his brother and his son held great influence as well, the three becoming a council of sorts. Legends also tell that he renamed both of them. One became known as the Spearhawk, for he was given the spear of Ranthor Nighthawk and the other Bladestorm for his skill with swords. This is an important point that I will come back too later. The Waverider ruled for roughly forty years before finally passing. His last years marred by the increasing power of a renegade priest of Talos: Margathor. Oral tradition suggests he grew anger at Bloodfall for the death of his daughter under suspicious circumstances. The Priest terrorised Bloodfall a long period of time and set himself up as chieftain, though no man of Bloodfall would acknowledge this. Times were rough until one Thorwaldar Bladestorm, a scion of the original Bladestorm, forged his Stormblade and defeated Margathor in single combat - cutting off the priests head. He then was heralded as the new chieftain (or Lord) of Bloodfall. Later fathering a child with a Frost Nymph who he also named Thorwald. Though this point is disputed. Tales then contradict each other at this point. In one account, Thorwaldar was the only thing keeping Bloodfall together and that when he died, it fell into anarchy. Another is that due to the excess and ineptitude of his rule, it slumped back into anarchy. The anarchy sorted itself out after one generation, but was still leaderless. Ritual combat was used to determine the new Lord of Bloodfall. Vandus Spearhawk faced Thorwald, grandson of Thorwaldar Bladestorm. The Spearhawk won the battle and became the new Lord. When the bugbears under a new prophet of Hruggek tried to invade, he led the defence successfully and was proclaimed "Defender of Bloodfall". This is where my tale stops, as the newest Lord of Bloodfall, Valdorak Spearhawk, has yet to prove himself as a hero amongst his people. Category:Lore Category:Books